Sony Pictures

The news that Marvel and Sony have reached a deal to integrate Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been enthusiastically received by fans keen to see the webslinger interact with Marvel's Avengers heroes -- and to see Spider-Man characters and Marvel Universe characters mixed into the same great pot. Though Sony retains control of the Spidey franchise, a closer working relationship with Marvel may also help turn around Sony's lackluster performance on the Spider-Man movies.

But there is a downside to this new arrangement. Actor Andrew Garfield is reportedly out of the running in the lead role of Peter Parker. The Amazing Spider-Man movies had an abundance of flaws, but Garfield as Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy were the two things the movies did right. Garfield looked and acted the part, both physically inhabiting the role and bringing to life the charm, vulnerability, and energy of the character. It feels like he never got to make a Spider-Man movie equal to his talents. But if he can't have the job anymore, there is one other actor we'd like to see take his place, and that's Donald Glover.

Hollywood just can't keep its grubby little hands off of our stuff. Last week it was announced that Sony Pictures snapped up the rights to Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen's Descender well before the book's March publication, a practice becoming more common. This type of announcement may cause consternation among some, but you have to take it on a case-by-case basis: If anything Mark Millar writes gets a deal before publication, please, be offended; in all other circumstances, reserve judgment until a "professional" receives an advance copy and dictates your opinion to you. (This is my new persona: hated.)

Descender, on its way from Image in March, is epic, intelligent, and full of heart, and it looks like Sony was right on the money for once.

20th Century Fox has announced a couple of updates to its roster of Marvel movies for the next couple of years, formally slotting the Channing Tatum-led Gambit movie into an October 7th release date, and moving Fantastic Four 2 forward a month, from July 14th 2017 to June 2nd 2017. We've updated our Supermovies infographic with the new dates, so you can enjoy a complete and up-to-date view of the next few years, and visualize all of your money disappearing.

The Gambit movie is scheduled for much sooner than most observers expected -- late next year -- and brings the number of Fox X-Men movies scheduled for next year up to three, with Deadpool in February and X-Men: Apocalypse in May. This makes Fox the first of the four studios in the current supermovies race to release three major shared-universe superhero movies in a single year; Marvel Studios will repeat the feat in 2017 and 2018.

For anyone who remembers the days when just one Spider-Man movie seemed an impossible dream, the above infographic is an astonishing representation of how comic book superheroes now dominate popular entertainment. ComicsAlliance’s own graphics maestro Dylan Todd put together this timeline that reveals what the next six years of superhero movies look like, with some dates and titles still to be announced. The graphic will be updated as new information is released.

The Warner Bros. announcement on Wednesday of ten upcoming movies based on DC Comics properties neatly fills in a calendar of dates that the studio previously provided -- and help flesh out an extraordinary timetable of DC and Marvel superhero movies over the next six years from Warner Bros, Marvel Studios, Fox, and Sony Columbia.

ComicsAlliance's own graphics maestro Dylan Todd put together a timeline that reveals what those six years look like, including 29 confirmed release dates between now and the end of 2020, with several dates and titles still to be announced. For anyone who remembers the days when just one Spider-Man movie seemed an impossible dream, it's an astonishing representation of how comic book superheroes now dominate popular entertainment.

The critical and popular consensus on this summer's Amazing Spider-Man 2 was that it was, to put it diplomatically, underwhelming.

As The Daily Beast's Marlow Stern put it, the movie felt overstuffed and "like a setup film for The Sinister Six spin-off." In fact, he put it that way directly to actor Andrew Garfield, who has played Peter Parker in the last two Spidey flicks. Garfield defended the movie to a point, but he also laid any blame for its failures solely on the studio behind it, Sony.

As fans debate what superheroine should get a solo movie from Marvel Studios, it would appear that Sony is looking to beat the Disney superhero factory to the punch using a Marvel character.

According to a Deadline report, Sony Pictures is planning to release a movie in its Spider-Man franchise led by a woman, though it's not clear which character will be front-and center. The movie would see release in 2017.

The cast for the Powers TV series from Sony Pictures TV is starting to take shape with the announcement that Susan Heyward will take the female lead role of detective Deena Pilgrim. The other lead role of Christian Walker has yet to be announced.

The series is being produced for distribution via Sony Playstation consoles, and is based on the Icon comic series of the same name by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. Powers tells the story of two detectives assigned to investigate superpower-related crimes.

The directors for TheAmazing Spider-Man 3 and Venom were already in place at the time of that announcement (Marc Webb is sticking with the main series and Alex Kurtzman will handle Venom), but Sinister Six's director wasn't yet confirmed. Now, it seems like an almost-done deal that screenwriter Drew Goddard, who directed The Cabin in the Woods and is also writing the new Netflix Daredevil series, will have the job.

“We are going to access Marvel’s full world of Spider-Man characters, so be on the lookout for new heroes and villains.” Those were Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal's words of reassurance to investors during a media conference call last week.

It's no surprise to hear that Sony has big plans for its Spider-Man movie franchise. Amazing Spider-Man 2 hits theatres in May 2014 with Andrew Garfield reprising his role as Peter Parker, and further installments are planned for 2016 and 2018. But the success of Marvel's own "cinematic universe" makes the expansion of Sony's Spider-Man universe seem inevitable, which leads to the question: where might Sony take the franchise next?

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